Our Next Chapter

What an honor it is to be here after 11 years! In this next year, we will be doing more of what you love, making sweet jackets, svelte vests, dashing shirts and even (squeeel) bringing some hoodies back. We’re able to do these last two, shirts and hoodies, in large part because we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to set up viable, ethical production processes and relationships with some factories overseas. 

Volante Design has been an American Made Brand for the past 11 years, and we will absolutely continue to proudly make our clothes in the US. AND there are simply less and less options available to us here locally. If we want to make shirts, hoodies, pants, and shoes, and if you want to have a wardrobe from Volante, we must seek new partnerships for making our products.

For us, this was a decision that took a LOT of discussion, quite a bit of cussing, a mountain of research and many samples and meetings with people from all over the world. Changing the way we do our production is a big deal. It was a tough decision. And there is no other path forward if we want to stay in business. It is our dream to make a world of fashion where people can feel extraordinary. Our commitment to quality, ethics and style aren’t going anywhere, but our manufacturing has to. 

In some ways, we’ve been making our products internationally since the beginning. The map above indicates where the suppliers of our most common materials are located. The raw goods used in clothing manufacturing are largely produced outside of the United States, but until now we have brought all of those materials here before transforming them into the clothing we are known for. The main reason for that was that it was the easiest way to ensure our products and the working conditions of the people who make them are up to our high standards. Really it was a question of ensuring we had the bandwidth to take the extra steps to do it right.

There are so many cool options out there, now that we’re opening the door to overseas production.

We will be able to offer a lot of new product types to complete your wardrobe! 

• Hoodies -it’s been years since we could reliably get sweatshirt fleece
• More shirts, formal and casual 
• Pants
• Shoes (although not right away)
• Bags
• Products that require specialized machinery, (e.g. seamtaping for fully waterproof jackets) 

Our finish and quality will go up in certain places! Because we’re able to work with factories that are focused on producing a very specific type of goods, or because we’ll be using factories that are located near the heart of specific material production centers (e.g. Egyptian cotton). 

Our pricing will be lower in some places! While I wish we could say that we will be able to mark things down across the board, because of our choices around materials, quality, and most importantly, fair wages, we are unlikely to see dramatic sweeping changes to our costs. No matter where we make our products they will always take a lot of skill and time to make. That’s just a fact. BUT some items will get more affordable, especially because we will be able to make some new product types that have been cost prohibitive to us in the past. 

We will begin our production overseas journey in China. There are simply too many state of the art factories to ignore. The infrastructure around manufacturing in China is unparalleled. We will only be working with factories who pass a series of internationally-recognized certifications and audits. More details to come. Next we’re hoping to go to Italy, so stay tuned for what that looks like! 

We will keep you in the loop! We have always been open about where our products are made but making everything in one factory in NYC was enough to imply a certain standard of life and working conditions for the people who made our jackets. As we expand to new factories around the world, we intend to be more transparent than ever. Each product page will say where the product is made, who is making it, and wherever applicable, what third-party processes we’ve used to guarantee safe working conditions, fair wages, and any other details we can share. We are also going to get more transparent about our pricing breakdown, so that you can see what costs go into a given product and why. 

Thanks for being along for the journey with us in the last 11 years. We cannot wait to make things that make you feel like a badass in new and exciting ways!